Category: Healthy Living

Some of my earliest memories of black eyed peas involves my mother cooking them. They were highly seasoned and usually accompanied with pieces of some type of meat. I remember my mother favored seasoning the beans with ham hocks or neck bones. Thinking back, the addition of the ham did add flavor to the beans. My mother is an amazing cook and her black eyed peas, along with many of her other dishes rarely lasted.

Switching to a Vegan diet did not mean I give up on the “down home cooking”  I experienced from my youth. I call it, down home cooking with a twist. 😉 I always knew that plant based foods could taste great if prepared correctly. My mother started letting me help prepare meals when I was four years old, and so I took on this “new way of cooking” with a lot of enthusiasm. Although I had always eaten healthy as a non-veggie I really had not explored all the amazing things you could prepare with plant based foods until I made that transition.

It wasn’t long before I started preparing the standard vegetables like dark leafy greens, carrots, potatoes, peas, and beans in a variety of new ways. Surprisingly enough I experienced unique tastes from vegetables that I’d originally written off as “bland” and unappetizing. I learned quickly, that preparation is everything. Vegetables and fruit now had the starring role in the dishes I prepared and I had a lot of fun creating recipes in my kitchen. Naturally in those early days, they weren’t all winners but over time I perfected them, and learned how to prepare the numerous vegetables and fruits that graced our table.

However, somewhere in the process I forgot about black eyed peas. I abandoned them for years. While they were pushed to the side, numerous other beans made their way into my kitchen, and I enjoyed whipping up tantalizing vegan creations that satisfied my desire of creating good home cooked meals and in the process I impressed some of my non-veggie friends that happened to stop by my home.

About ten years ago, I started using black eyed peas again, and I was instantly transported back to my mothers kitchen, preparing food, sitting around the table, and spending time with family. The last dish I made with black eyed peas was in September 2013. It was spicy black eyed peas with veggies and herbs. Recently, I’ve been craving them so this time around, so I do believe I’ll make some Black eyed pea burgers.

A few days ago I stumbled upon a Thai based cookbook.

I can’t remember how I found the book, but I can say that I was drawn to it because a mortar and pestle graced the cover. I love my mortar and pestle, it gets plenty of weekly action in our home.  Guess what? Andy Ricker’s cookbook,  and his restaurant, are both named  ‘Pok Pok’. Andy says, pok pok is the sound that the pestle makes when you grind the ingredients into the mortar. I say it sounds like tok tok. 😉

That aside, I was intrigued by the reviews I read about in on Amazon. While I don’t follow cookbooks for any of the meals I prepare at home, I do become inspired by observing others. Amazon has an amazing option available to authors that lets potential buyers take a peek at some of the books contents. It’s something I enjoy seeing, since that usually determines if I’ll purchase the book.

One of the recipes he shares, Kai Kapharao Khai Dao (stir-fried chicken with hot basil) is similar to two dishes I prepare at home; meat and a vegan version. However while I do use basil, I don’t use ‘hot basil.’ Andy’s description has me intrigued and so I’ll be checking to see if I can purchase the seeds to plant in my garden next year.

Based on Andy Rickers writing style, along with some of the delicious recipes presented by him within this book, It’s safe to say that this book will be gracing one of my book shelves soon.

 

Last week, my daughter asked me if I would make Chicken vegetable egg rolls for dinner.

I’d made vegan eggless eggrolls towards the end of October, but have not made any since that time. Since I knew I didn’t have any chicken breasts, I stopped by the grocery store (on my way home from work) and purchased a few pounds.

Once I arrived home, I cooked the chicken breasts in my 8 qt. Presto pressure cooker. While the breasts were cooking I started grinding my herbs, spices, garlic and ginger into my mortar and pestle. Into my wok, I added a variety of vegetables and sauteed them for about two minutes. By that time the chicken breasts were finished and so I added a small amount of the breasts to the wok.

 

Once everything was cooked, I set aside in stainless steel bowl. I then prepared the filling for vegan egg rolls, once that was cooked, I set aside and started adding the chicken filling to the non-veggie egg rolls. I first pan fried the vegan vegetable ‘eggrolls’ into the skillet, followed by the chicken and vegetable egg rolls.

 

My daughter loved both varieties! Of course the next day, a few ended up in her Zojirushi lunch jar.

One morning this week, I made fried rice with broccoli. The day before, I’d told my daughter that I’d make her vegetable fried rice in her zojirushi lunch jar, and that morning I realized all the fried rice was gone. Whoops!

Fortunately, this dish didn’t take too long to make. I had a steady supply of vegetables in the fridge and so I pulled out my trusty hand hammered steel wok and started cooking. I didn’t have to worry about preparing the brown rice, since I’d pressure cooked some a few days before.

I really loved the above photo, it was so colorful and I was tempted to just leave it as it was, with only a light saute, but since I promised my daughter ‘vegetable fried rice.’

I added the most important ingredient… rice and a few other things were added, such as the freshly ground herbs/spices you see in the above photo. I’d just tossed them in the wok.

Since I’m an Amazon Prime member, I only had to wait two days to receive the Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box.

Of course, I tested it shortly after it arrived. I realized that I didn’t need to wait for my daughter to give me a report. My daughter  still wants to give a review (I’m thrilled) and she most likely will post it on this site. Besides, I honestly wanted to make sure it did an effective job of keeping her food warm. I didn’t want her to be disappointed if it did not work, but based on the reviews and the fact that I followed the suggestions I honestly didn’t think I’d be disappointed.

I’m happy to say that after four hours, the food stored in the Zojirushi soup bowl was still hot! Yeah, that means the that her homemade school lunches will be heated!

Totally stealing the above .gif from Nicole , a talented fiber artist. Check out her Christmas themed stitch markers! The above .gif describes how I’m feeling now that I’ve found the answer to sending my daughter to school with hot lunches that don’t have to be microwaved!

What’s included?

• Three Soup/Rice/Curry Containers – 9 oz. each
• Bread Container – 10 oz.
• Insulator
• Carrying Case

How do I stack them?

The box showed a diagram on how they are supposed to be stacked inside the insulated container.  I took a picture so you can see how it appears.

Recommendations on keeping food warm in your Insulated Zojirushi insulated Tiffin Box

From my research, I knew that to achieve the best results one should pour boiling water into the insulated stainless steel container and let it set for a few minutes. I let the water set in the stainless steel container for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, I dumped out the water, wiped the container dry and added heated food to the spill proof soup bowl container. I stacked the two remaining soup bowls, added the insulator and placed the bread bowl on top. I then closed everything.  The insulator acts as a divider so your hot food below stays hot, and food above the insulator won’t be affected. I’ve read that some have been able to keep cold foods in the top container. I haven’t tested out cool foods in the top container, but I will.

 

I decided to include photos of what the food looked like, four hours later. It’s some of the leftover vegetable and black beans. You’ll see condensation on the side of the bowl. Yes, it’s still hot! 🙂

Insulated Zojirushi Soup Bowl ; gasket

These Zojirushi food storage containers are made of plastic; polypropylene, but they are not microwavable. If you look closely, you’ll see why… the ‘yellow ring’ is the gasket and the yellow circle in the center is the ‘valve packing’.  They’re both made of the same material. The containers would be damaged if you put them in the microwave. As you can see in the above picture the screw top lid for the soup container has a lot of condensation build up also.

 

Cute carrying case

My daughter (sort of)  likes the carrying case for her Zojirushi lunch jar. She asked me could I add embroidery to it and perhaps add some fabric to brighten the gloomy bag. I told her that I could do that, but she’d have to wait until the weekend when I have more time. The bag is roomy and it has space for a few additional items such as a small drink and eating utensils. It also has a side pocket. I really like that it zips up the side.

Hot School lunches from home

Seeing and tasting the results of the food stored into her brand new Bento Box has put a smile on my daughter’s face.  She’s thrilled that she can actually eat hot home cooked meals at school.

Insulated Zojirushi Tiffin Box; Not Microwaveable or Dishwasher Safe

If you want a product that is microwaveable or dishwasher safe you’ll have to look elsewhere since you’re not supposed to put the bowls in either of them. This does not effect us since my daughter can’t use a microwave at school. I don’t own a dishwasher because I actually like hand washing our dishes.

Initial Thoughts

My first reaction is that I’m thrilled that the Zojirushi SL-XCE20HG Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tiffin Box lives up to its claims; it definitely keeps the food hot!

Upcoming Scheduled Posts

I’d originally had another post scheduled for today, but I rescheduled that for a future date so I could slip in this advanced post. I most likely will push Fridays scheduled post to a future date so I can post what was included for my daughter’s first hot meal with the Zojirushi lunch jar.